The recession has hit Wisteria Lane. “Desperate Housewives” creator Marc Cherry said that losing Nicolette Sheridan, who plays the just-killed-off Edie Britt, was not just a way of trimming the vixen population, but a natural way to cut costs.

Despite the cost claim, tension between Cherry and Sheridan goes back at least two years, when the Housewives’ salaries began to climb and Cherry considered killing off Edie.

“If we threaten one of the characters’ lives, maybe they’ll back off,” he once told his writers.

His strategy may have worked during the last round of contract negotiations, but eliminating Sheridan now will save the show a reported $100,000 to $200,000 per episode.

Over at “Grey’s Anatomy,” one source close to the show says that Katherine Heigl, whose character, Izzie Stephens, just had brain surgery, could suffer a similar fate.

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“Katie had no way of knowing that when she initially made it seem like she wanted out of her contract, the economy would be where it is now and they’d be looking to cut costs,” said the source. “It’s no coincidence that now you hear her saying she’s along for as long as they’ll have her.”

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